*?04 ON VEGETABLE ASTRINGENTS. 



ANNOTATION. 



Shallow still From the practical observations of Mr. Curaudau we 

 best for malt may infer, as indeed he hints in his first general conclusion, 

 spirits, tnat tne shallow stiil is preferable, where the object is to 



prevent the peculiar flavour of the liquor distilled as much 

 as possible from rising j as in distilling from malt, or me- 

 lasses, the common materials in our country : and this not 

 only on account of the saving in time and fuel, but of su- 

 Deep still for periority in point of flavour. On the contrary, in respect 

 aromatic herbs to the simple or spirituous distilled waters, as they have 

 commonly been called, where a full impregnation with the 

 peculiar flavour of the vegetable substance employed is de- 

 sirable, a deep still would appear to be preferable. The 

 proper proportions for stills for some of the finer produc- 

 tions of this kind however may deserve a particular in- 

 quiry. C. 



IX. 



On Vegetable Astringents. By John Bostock, M. D. 



Communicated by the Author. 



or perfume*. 



Action of re- yy HILE I was engaged with the experiments on the 

 •us astringents" combination of tan and jelly, the results of some of which 

 I have already transmitted to you, I was led to observe 

 the action of a number of reagents upon the different as- 

 tringent substances which I employed, The conclusions 

 that I have been induced to form are, in some respects, dif- 

 ferent from those adopted by the most approved systematic 

 writers, as well as by those experimenters, who have par- 

 ticularly directed their attention to this class of bodies. I 

 propose to confine my remarks in the first instance to the 

 gall-nut ; and having adopted this as a kind of standard, I 

 shall afterward make a few comparative observations on 

 catechu and the extract of rhatany, substances which have 

 been considered analogous to galls in their chemical pro- 

 perties. 



In 



